Another picture of Sydney at the dog park the other day. She can’t even open her eyes, but look how happy she is!
Author: Kathleen
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Miscellaneous Internet Things
- The beginnings of our wedding website are up. Although right now it’s just a “coming soon” site, I’m still excited about it. My brother, of course, is designing it. Find it at davidandkathleen.net. [ETA: website is no longer in operation.]
- I don’t know if anyone was viewing my photo of the day, but you might have noticed that it hasn’t changed in awhile. This is because that feature isn’t working well and we can’t figure it out. So enjoy the coconut for awhile longer while we work on installing a photo of the day feature that actually works. When that time comes there will actually be a daily photo, not a monthly one.
- I discovered Twitter, and I love it. Twitter is like mini-blogging; you basically update on what you’re doing. At first glance I thought it was stupid, but now I think it’s great. What changed my mind is the fact that you can set the updates from your friends to come to your phone, and you can send updates from your phone too. Also, updates don’t have to be boring! So anyway, I think it’s great but it would be awesome if I actually had friends doing it with me. At the moment I only have one. So find me and give it a try!
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Dog Park
David and I took the three dogs to the dog park on Saturday. Our dogs include Cleo (of course), his dog Eddy who is a lab mix, and his brother Chris’s dog Sydney, a boxer. As soon as we got there Cleo went off on her own, making new friends, swimming, and basically having a grand old time. She didn’t need us so we let her go, and I kept an eye on her from time to time. Eddy and Sydney didn’t want to leave our side, so we started walking around the park so that they could enjoy it. David said that he would rather them not get in the water so we walked the other way instead. Unfortunately, that led us right by a giant mud pit which Sydney did not hesitate to wallow in.
Sydney in the Mud from Kathleen on Vimeo.She was also drinking the muddy water. At first we were upset because we really weren’t prepared to clean her up, but the more she played in it the happier she looked. Honestly I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Eddy got in the mud too, probably thinking that it looked like fun, but as soon as she got in she realized it was wet (Eddy doesn’t like to be wet) so she jumped out right away. Luckily there was a little shower there for them, although David did have to give them a full bath when he got home.
Later that night I noticed that something was wrong with Cleo. Her tail is now hanging limply behind her and doesn’t wag. I never realized how important the tail wag was until now. It’s like all the happiness has been drained from the apartment. So I examined her and even took her temperature and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. She isn’t moving around as much and when she goes to sit down it seems difficult for her. I’m hoping she just strained a muscle and it will get better in a few days.
She slept in my bed last night as usual, and this morning woke me up by throwing up. Then later on she threw up a couple times on my floor. I think this is unrelated to her other issue. Anyway, I really hope she recovers soon because looking at that sad little face and tail is so depressing, and I really can’t afford a vet bill right now!
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Circle Journal
I was so excited to pick up the mail yesterday and find this box:
And inside it:
This is a journal that three of my best college friends and I began in 2003. Angie, Julie, and I gave it to Becca for her birthday that year. They had recently graduated (I was a year behind), and we would no longer live close by each other. The idea is for one person to write in the journal and then mail it to the next person. Eventually it gets back to the person who started with it and another round begins.
Here is the inside cover, where we posted a picture of us with directions of how to use the journal. We also keep stickers there along with other miscellaneous things from time to time.
It’s the most fun when we put in pictures and other little things like that, and when we make notes in the margins of each others’ entries in response. Although we do keep up with each other through e-mail, some phone calls, and the occasional visit, the journal is infinitely more fun. I have to say that we aren’t always the best at keeping up with it, some of us keeping it for up to a year at a time without sending it on, but we try, and it is so worth it.
Here is an example of a page I entered back in 2006:
I encourage you to give it a try! For more information and ideas, visit the Circle Journey website.
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A Hard-Earned $45
I had a big day lined up today. After my morning class I planned to eat a hearty meal and then donate blood at noon, after which I was going to walk over to Baylor College of Medicine to have an MRI for cash. When I told David about this latest experiment he just said, “Oh Kat,” and smiled. He’s made his protests, and now he’s coming to terms with our differences.
Anyway, I ate the hearty meal as planned – a huge ham and provolone sandwich on a croissant, a banana, and two chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. I then meandered over to the blood drive to begin the screening process. At this point I was nervous about the whole blood-giving experience because I have had issues in the past, and I was already feeling bad with a headache and cramps. Also, I have an important soccer game tonight which I still planned to play despite my cells being drained of their oxygen source. Because I’m tough like that.
So I began the screening process. My vitals were good: pulse 60, blood pressure 102/70, temp 97.2. Yes. I got my finger stuck and my iron level was 39. On a roll! Now all the questions…no, I don’t have HIV, hepatitis, hemophilia, or anything of the like. No, I haven’t had sex with a man who has had sex with a man. No, I haven’t paid for sex. I got hung up on the travel questions. In 2006 I went to a small town in Mexico that isn’t in the database. We spent approximately ten minutes figuring out what state it’s in, enlisting the help of a supervisor for this process.
I was getting worried at this point that I would be late for my MRI, but after about thirty minutes of screening I was told that I can’t give blood for a year because of the unlicensed bird flu vaccine that I received the other week. My gift of life was denied. Should I worry that I had an unlicensed bird flu vaccine last year as well and donated blood three times without reporting it? Nah.
After this disappointment (although I was secretly relieved) I walked over to the neuroimaging lab. After a bit of waiting and paperwork I was loaded in to the MRI machine. First came a quick 10-second scan. No problem! Then I waited…and waited. This was a group study, and apparently the others were having issues with their scanner. I am still having cramps during all of this. After more than enough time had passed, I began a 4 1/2 minute scan so that they could get my basic structure…or something like that. This one was extremely loud and sounded like some kind of emergency alarm that gave me the serious urge to exit the building NOW. It also gave me the serious urge to vomit, because the magnetic field was so strong. I had to implement controlled breathing exercises to make it through that one. Afterwards, a voice asked me, “Are you comfortable? We want you to be as still as possible for the rest of the experiment.” Um, no. I am decidedly NOT comfortable, I am dreading the actual experimental scan (30-40 minutes! Torture!), and as soon as someone tells me not to move, that is ALL I want to do. But I replied “Sure,” with only a hint of sarcasm.
More waiting, and then it was time to begin. I was going to be playing a computer game against another person while they scanned me. This was to try to discover something about the brain and how people work together. I would explain the game to you, but it’s probably not interesting to 99% of the people reading this. But I guess I did alright on it, because I earned an extra $15 for my performance. Add to that the $20 flat rate for being involved in the study and the $10 extra they gave me for being a “good sport” with all the waiting, and I have myself 45 big ones. You may not think it was wort it, but to me it totally was, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.